Looking for a custom saddle for my older high withered TB. Want something light and comfy for us both. Requirements are : must fit him well, must be secure for me on trails, and must have excellent customer service to help ensure a perfect fit. Any opinions? Thanks!
I love my desoto saddle. I’ve had it for about 9 years now. It fits my hard to fit endurance bhorse perfectly and his back has never been sore with it. Puts me in a great position too. Thethe owner of the company was great to work with. IMO I wouldn’t consider it a lightweight sadddle tho but I am used to english saddles.
[QUOTE=allisontatman;6527839]
Looking for a custom saddle for my older high withered TB. Want something light and comfy for us both. Requirements are : must fit him well, must be secure for me on trails, and must have excellent customer service to help ensure a perfect fit. Any opinions? Thanks![/QUOTE]
I’ve had two Desoto saddles made for me - for two different horses. LOVE THEM. They fit the horses and me perfectly.
I would consider it lightweight.
The first saddle was made six years ago and with heavy use is still going strong. Original girth, too, which is a great design.
Because it has a simple design it is close contact, secure and puts you in a balanced/dressage seat. Can’t say enough good things about these saddles. Customer service is wonderful.
The best thing is the fit for my horses. I must have shipped 15 saddles back and forth, and nothing fit well until I got the Desoto saddles.
I had a Desoto for many years…I loved it!!! sadly my new horse didn’t fit it and I just could not afford to get another one custom made again…she is a extra wide. But I called Marylyn at Desosto to see if we could widen it cause I .did.not. want. to. sell. it. but they can’t be widened. She is great to work with.
The saddle is super comfy too it has been the only saddle that has not hurt my back.
Stonewall
I am very happy w/my Stonewall. Jackie is great to work with, also. It is lightweight, about 12 lbs. It is very secure for trails. It saved me a couple of times when my horse pulled a major spook.
For me it is hard to recommend a treed saddle to someone that isn’t adjustable or customizeable. If you just spend $400 for a used saddle and it fits the current horse for now that is acceptable as the $$ spent isn’t too bad. But buying a custom made, $1500 saddle that can’t be adapted to the changes in your horses back or a new horse is hard to bite off.
The Stonewall saddles can have the foam on the underside of the saddle changed to fit the saddle to changes in the horses back. However, all of these saddles do have a tree and the width cannot be altered. I’d suggest the Stonewall with the slimer pommel as it is pretty darn light weight and the mfgr can change the “panels” on the underside for you. They also use an excellent card system to get the best fitting of the saddle for your horse without having the horse in front of them. Their saddles have adjustable rigging which is very importent and you may need to experiment to find the right placement of the rigging for your horse and many saddles are made with a permanent rigging that is non-changeable. The saddles used are in high demand whcih tells you something.
Bonnie
[QUOTE=chicamux;6529139]
For me it is hard to recommend a treed saddle to someone that isn’t adjustable or customizeable. If you just spend $400 for a used saddle and it fits the current horse for now that is acceptable as the $$ spent isn’t too bad. But buying a custom made, $1500 saddle that can’t be adapted to the changes in your horses back or a new horse is hard to bite o
Bonnie[/QUOTE]
I never found that to be the case with my desoto. I think my horse was 8 when I bought it and I remember he was kind of heavy at the time since I hadn’t been riding him much. Anyhow now he is 17 and the saddle still works perfectly for him. I’m sure that his body has changed inj that time and for example when we did tevis he was much leaner and muscled than at any other time. So I wouldn’t hesitate to order another if I planned to have the horse a long time.
Love my Stonewall and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Jackie is fantastic and the saddle security has saved me more than once. My saddle is a narrow tree from around 1980 and it fits almost all my horses.
